Hair dryer with release mechanism

ABSTRACT

A hair dryer that may be collapsed for carrying and storage and erected for operation, including a base assembly, a rigid hood assembly to be positioned about the head of the user for distributing heated air to the head, and a strut for supporting the rigid hood assembly elevated from the base assembly. A latch release mechanism is provided that releases the hood assembly from the base assembly to allow the hood assembly to be raised simultaneously to its operational position, all with one hand.

United States Patent 11 1 Nopanen 1 Nov. 6, 1973 [73] Assignee: GeneralElectric Company,

Bridgeport, Conn.

Bruder 292/83 Robinson et al 312/248 Primary Examinerl(enneth W. SpragueAssistant Examiner-James C. Yeung Att0rney-Lawrence R. Kempton et al.

[22] Filed: Sept. 15, 1972 21 A l N 289,662 1 PP [57] ABSTRACT 52 11.5.C1 .I; 34/99 34/91 292/87 A hair dryer that may be collapse? forFarrying3 storage and erected for operatlon, including a base as- [51] Int ClA45! 20/00 E056 13/04 sembly, a rigid hood assembly to be positionedabout [58] Fieid 34/90 91 the head of the user for distributing heatedair to the 295/ head, and a strut for supporting the rigid hood assemblyelevated from the base assembly. A latch release mechanism is providedthat releases the hood assembly from [56] References cued the baseassembly to allow the hood assembly to be UNITED STATES PATENTS raisedsimultaneously to its'operational position, all 151,466 6/1874 Bourne292/19 with one hand 316,115 4/1885 Cassady 1,185,422 5/1916 Mammelli292/254 8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures MoToR 44 29 28 ii I 1 1 1 7 82 64 I80 7 6 76 72 HAIR DRYER WITH RELEASE MECHANISM BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION 1. Field of the Invention:

This invention relates to hair dryers and, more particularly, to hairdryers havinga rigid hood.

2. Description of the Prior Art:

Hair dryers generally fall into two types namely, those which areusually permanently installed in beauty parlors, and those of thehousehold type which are small portable appliances. The professionaltype is massive, costly, and does not lend itself to feasibleutilization in the home. This invention relates particularly tohousehold type hair dryers that utilize a rigid hood.

Household rigid hood hair dryers should be capable of easy storage andeasy erection for operational use. One common type of rigid hoodhousehold hair dryer has a hoodthat closes down upon the base with afolding air duct interconnecting the hood and base enclosed withinthehood. This makes a compact hair dryer that may be easily stored andcarried. In such household rigid hood hair dryers, one problem is tohands to simultaneously release the latches. Moreover,

the latches are located down where the rigid hood sits on the base andthe handle is at the top of the hood, making it even more difficult-toaccomplish the opening and erecting procedure.

By my invention, there is provided a rigid hood hair dryer that hasmeans for releasing the latch mechanism between the hood and the baseand simultaneously raising the hood to the operational position, allwith one hand.

7 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION I In accordance with this invention, there isprovided a hair dryer having a rigid hood assembly to be positioned overthe head of the user for distributing air to the hair, a base assembly,means for producing a flow of heated air to be distributed to the hairby the hood assembly, and a strut for supporting the rigid hood assemblyelevated from the base assembly. There is a means which includes thestrut for lowering the hood assembly onto the base assembly and forraising the hood assembly to an elevated position for operationalv useof the hair dryer. The hairdryer incorporates-a hood latch for securingthe hood assembly to the base assembly for storage and carrying andlatch release means including an elongated member having a push buttonat one end and'a cam surface at the other end cooperating with the hoodlatch to release the latch by cam action when the push button'isactivated.

It is an object of this invention to provide a hair dryer.

that has a hoodthat may be conveniently and easily raised to itsoperational position by the user.

It is also an objectof this invention to provide a hair dryer with arigid hood assembly that may be released from attachment to a baseassembly as for storage and carrying and raised to its operationalposition simultaneously with one hand.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS .with the latch release mechanism inits latched position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now'to the drawings indetail, FIG. I illustrates my hair dryer in erected condition ready forop-- erational use, such as in the home, and it generally in-' cludes abase'assembly 10, a rigid hood assembly 11 to be placed over the head ofthe user, and a strut in the form of a connecting air conduit betweenthe hood assembly and base assembly that includes a hollow air ductassembly 12 which may be selectively adjustable as by telescoping thesections to position the hood at a height comfortable to the user. Thehair dryer may be the type shown-in FIG. 1 where it is contemplated tobe used by placing the entire hair dryer on a table orsimilarappropriate counter top. support and the user sits on a chair andpositions her head within the rigid hoodassembly 11. It is to beunderstood, however, that'other rigid hood type hair dryers may also beemployed in my inventionand that the hair dryer shown in the drawings ismerely illustrative ofone embodiment of myinvention. I

The base assembly tains the usual means for-producing a flow of heatedair. That is, thehousing contains an electrical heating means forheating air, electrically operated impeller means for causing the heatedair to flow, and regulating means for both the heating and impellermeansincl'ud ing amanually operated selector switch accessiblefrom theexterior of the housing. There are also suitable air passages formed inthe housing including an ambient air inlet and an integral heated airoutlet which communicates with the air duct assembly 12.

The housing of the base assembly 10 includes a base member 14 and acover 15 which are secured to each other in any convenient manner. Thebase member and cover may be of rigid plastic material of any suitableknown type. The top of the cover l5, forms a deck-l6. Centrally, on theupper side of the deck is an air inlet grill 17. An air outlet tubularsection'20 is molded integrally with cover -15. A selector switchoperating knob 18 is mounted on the deck 16 and is'accessible to theuser for manually operating the hair dryer. The air duct assembly 12between the base and hood assemblies comprises three sections of airducts lower duct 22, upper duct 24, and hood duct 26. These ducts may bemade of the same rigid plastic material as that from which the basehousing is made. The ducts are hollow tubular members that are generallyrectangular. in cross-section. The lower duct 22 is slightly smaller inlateral cross-section compared to air outlet tubular section 20, so thatit can be telescopically slidably dis- 10 includes a housingwhichconposed inside air outlet tubular section 20. The telescopic movementis used for adjusting the height of the hood assembly 11 relative to thebase assembly 1 0. A hinge 25 is provided between the lower duct 22 andupper duct 24, and there is a hinge 27 between hood duct 26 and hoodassembly 1 l. Hinge 29 secures the air duct assembly to the hoodassembly. These hinges provide the means for raising the hood assemblyfor operational use and lowering it onto the base assembly for storageand carrying.

The hood assembly 11 comprises two main rigid plastic molded headreceiving members-28 and 30. They are 'nested with respect to each otherin'spaced. relationship to definean air distributing space or manifold32 therebetween. The outer shell 28 is air tight, whereas the. innerliner 30 has a plurality of air distributing apertures 34 formedthr'oughoutthe surface hair of the userpThe inner liner 30 hasanoutwardly and upwardly directed'peripheralflange 36 formed integrallytherewith which engages'the bottom edge of the outer member 28' along ameeting line 38 that may be covered by a trim member if desired. The topof the outer shell 28 has a handle 39 for carrying the hair dryer whenit is in its collapsed carrying and storage po- 'sitionJThe handle isalso used to raise the hood to its operative position as will bedescribed later.

at the front of the hood assembly 11. The push button.

42 projects through an opening 46 in the outer shell 28 at the'forwardtop of the hood assembly but is prevented from completely passingthrough opening 46 by stop meansconip'rising 'a stop element 48 having adithereof for the purpose of directing heated air into-the leaf spring58 exerts constant force against the hookshaped latch 56 to continuouslyurge it inwardly. The hook-shaped latch 56 has a shoulder portion 60 disposed horizontally that engages a horizontal shoulder 62 molded into theinner liner 30 so that the latch shoulder 60 and liner shoulder 62cooperate with each other to retain the forward end of the hood assemblyon the base assembly. The hook-shaped latchv56 has a cam surface 64extending from the top 66 of the latch to the outer edge 68 of the latchshoulder 60. The hook-shaped latch 56 extends from the base assembly 10through an opening 70 in the base assembly and for the hood assembly toreceive the upwardly projecting 78 in the outer shell'during the.closing operation. It-

should be notedthat a small section 80 of the outer shell below theopening 78 is provided and is dimensioned to be received within thespace between the in wardly directed engaging element 74 and the lowersection 76 of deck 16. This small section 80 is therefore retained inthe hook-shaped configuration of the above-described latching means andwill retain the rear of the hood assembly in its closed position uponthe base assembly. The closing movement of the hood assembly onto thebase assembly, as from that shown in FIG. 1 to that shown in FIG. 4,permits the rear portion of the hood assembly to engage the rearlatching arrangement prior toi'engagement of the forward latchingassembly. The forward latching a'ssemblyis engaged'by slight downwardforce so that the edge ofv opening 70 ameter larger than opening'46."Tli'estop element 48 j abuts theinside periphery of the hole46'during upward movement 'of'the remote release control 40. Theelongated member 41 is flexible yet sufficiently rigid so that bypushing on one end the other end is-moved correspondingly and it may bea cable or made from suitable plastic that performs and functions as acable. Retention of the elongatedfmember 41 within the manifold 32 inits proper position may beaccoinplished by an upper bracket and a lowerbracket 52 both of which are secured to the innerliner 30. Theentire'rernote release control 40 is by this arrangement movable up anddown within the manifold '32 within the structural limits provided andonly a small amount of movement isupon contactirig latch'camsu'rface 64overcomes the spring'bias force afforded by leaf spring 58 until thelatch shoulder passes through opening 70 and the spring forces the latch56 to engage 'liner' shoulder 62. To erect th e'hood assembly to'itsbperativ'e position from the closed position shown in FIG. "4, theusermerely grips the handle 39 and exerts thumb pressure,

on-the outwardly exposed push button42 therebyv forcing the elongatedmember 41 carryingcam element 44 downwardly. Cam element 44 has a camsurface 82 which engages cam surface 64 of the hook-shaped latch 56 andupon continuedv thumb pressure and downward face 82 forces spring biasedhook-shaped latch 56 outwardly-of the hair dryer, as'show'n'in FIG. 2,thereby causing disengagement of shoulder 60 of thelatch and shoulder 62of the liner-30. ln' this position then the hook-shaped latch 56 is nowdisengaged from holding the forward portion of hood assembly 11 onto thebase ward end in position upon the base assembly 10 consists'of ahook-shaped:latch 56 pivotally secured to the through opening72 in theliner 30. Continued moveassembly l0'and the user mer ely lifts the hoodassembly simultaneously by means of the handle 39 whereuponthehook-shape'd latch 56 is withdrawn from inside manifold 32 ofthe'hood assembly and passes ment of the hood assembly to the erectedposition also accomplishes disengaging the rearward latch by withdrawinginwardly directed engaging element 74 through rearward opening 78 in theouter shell thereby releasing the hood assembly from the base assemblyexcept for the hinged air duct assembly 12 interconnecting the hood andbase assemblies which when unfolded is arranged and constructed tosupport the hood assembly and lock the hood assembly elevated relativeto the base assembly.

To lower the hood assembly onto the base assembly for storage andcarrying the user simply unlocks the hood from the air duct assembly 12support and while gripping the handle closes the hood assembly onto thebase assembly while folding the air duct assembly within the hood. Therear latch and front latch engages the hood assembly as describedpreviously. Since there is no thumb pressure on push button 42 at thistime the remote release control 40 is cammed upardly by the inwardlydirected spring force exerted on hook-shaped latch 56 having latchshoulder 60 so that the remote release control 40 is positioned ready tobe actuated the next time the hood assembly is to be erected foroperational use. If desired, the remote release control could have aseparate spring arranged to move it back to its position as beforeactuation.

The foregoing is a description of the preferred embodiment of theinvention and variations may be made thereto without departing from thespirit of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

1 claim:

1. A hair dryer comprising:

a. a base assembly including a spring biased latch,

b. means for producing a flow of heated air,

c. a rigid hood assembly arranged to be positioned about the head of theuser, said assembly including an outer shell, an inner perforated linerspaced.

from the outer shell, and a latch receiving means,

d. a strut connecting the base and hood assemblies,

e. means including the strutfor lowering said hood assembly onto saidbase assembly and for raising the hood assembly to an elevated positionrelative to the base assembly for operating the hair dryer, and

f. latch release means including an elongated member having a pushbutton at one end and a cam surface at the other end, said cam surfacecooperating with the hood latch to release the latch from the hood latchreceiving means by cam action when said push button is actuated.

2. The hair dryer of claim 1 wherein the spring biased force on thelatch causes the elongated member to return to its position as beforeactuation.

3. The hair dryer of claim 1 wherein the latch release means is locatedin the space between the outer shell and inner liner and the push buttonprojects through an opening in the outer shell at the forward top ofhood assembly.

4. A hair dryer comprising:

a. a base assembly housing means for producing a flow of heated air andincluding a pivotally secured spring biased hood latch having a camsurface,

b. a rigid hood assembly arranged to be positioned about the head of theuser, said assembly including an outer shell, an inner perforated linerspaced from the outer shell, and a latch receiving means,

c. air conducting means for directing heated air from said producingmeans to said hood assembly, said air conducting means including ahollow air duct assembly hingedly secured to the hair dryer be tween thehood assembly and base assembly,

d. means including the air duct assembly for lowering said hood assemblyonto said base assembly for carrying the hair dryer and for raising thehood to an elevated position relative to the base assembly to anoperative position, and

e. latch release means including an elongated member having a pushbutton at one end and a cam sur? face at the other end, said cam surfacecooperating with the cam surface of the latch to release the latch fromthe latch receiving means by cam action when said push button isactuated.

5. The hair dryer of claim4 wherein the latch has a horizontal shoulderand the latch receiving means has a horizontal shoulder both of saidshoulders engaging each other when the hood assembly is positioned onbase assembly.

6. The hair dryer of claim 4 wherein a rear latching arrangement isincluded to secure the hood assembly onto the base assembly at twolocations.

7. The hair dryer of claim 4 wherein the hood bly has a handle at thetop.

8. The hair dryer of claim 4 wherein the latch release means is locatedin the space between the outer shell and inner liner and the push buttonprojects through an opening in the outer shell.

assem-

1. A hair dryer comprising: a. a base assembly including a spring biasedlatch, b. means for producing a flow of heated air, c. a rigid hoodassembly arranged to be positioned about the head of the user, saidassembly including an outer shell, an inner perforated liner spaced fromthe outer shell, and a latch receiving means, d. a strut connecting thebase and hood assemblies, e. means including the strut for lowering saidhood assembly onto said base assembly and for raising the hood assemblyto an elevated position relative to the base assembly for operating thehair dryer, and f. latch release means including an elongated memberhaving a push button at one end and a cam surface at the other end, saidcam surface cooperating with the hood latch to release the latch fromthe hood latch receiving means by cam action when said push button isactuated.
 2. The hair dryer of claim 1 wherein the spring biased forceon the latch causes the elongated member to return to its position asbefore actuation.
 3. The hair dryer of claim 1 wherein the latch releasemeans is located in the space between the outer shell and inner linerand the push button projects through an opening in the outer shell atthe forward top of hood assembly.
 4. A hair dryer comprising: a. a baseassembly housing means for producing a flow of heated air and includinga pivotally secured spring biased hood latch having a cam surface, b. arigid hood assembly arranged to be positioned about the head of theuser, said assembly including an outer shell, an inner perforated linerspaced from the outer shell, and a latch receiving means, c. airconducting means for directing heated air from said producing means tosaid hood assembly, said air conducting means including a hollow airduct assembly hingedly secured to the hair dryer between the hoodassembly and base assembly, d. means including the air duct assembly forlowering said hood assembly onto said base assembly for carrying thehair dryer and for raising the hood to an elevated position relative tothe base assembly to an operative position, and e. latch release meansincluding an elongated member having a push button at one end and a camsurface at the other end, said cam surface cooperating with the camsurface of the latch to release the latch from the latch receiving meansby cam action when said push button is actuated.
 5. The hair dryer ofclaim 4 wherein the latch has a horizontal shoulder and the latchreceiving means has a horizontal shoulder both of said shouldersengaging each other when the hood assembly is positioned on baseassembly.
 6. The hair dryer of claim 4 wherein a rear latchingarrangement is included to secure the hood assembly onto the baseassembly at two locations.
 7. The hair dryer of claim 4 wherein the hoodassembly has a handle at the top.
 8. The hair dryer of claim 4 whereinthe latch release means is located in the space between the outer shelland inner liner and the push button projects through an opening in theouter shell.